


And When the Battle Is Won (We All Come Home)

by rosykookies



Series: And the Sun Will Rise [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Character Death Fix, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Happy Ending, Most of the characters have very minor appearances, Nat's still dead but I'll fix it in a future installment, Natasha Romanov Feels, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Pepper Potts as Rescue, Present Tense, Soul Bond, They all hold hands like the Guardians, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark-centric, this is soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22097944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosykookies/pseuds/rosykookies
Summary: Someone lands with a thud beside him. Tony’s eyes drift to the left, hand still hovering and fingers poised to snap, just as Pepper flips up her mask and sinks to her knees beside him. The smile she offers him is like salvation. She takes Tony’s hand and he feels no more pain.Pepper jerks as the energy courses into her through their joint hands. Tony’s eyes follow the grooves beginning to line her suit.“Hold hands!” someone shouts distantly. “Everyone hold hands!”Tony snaps but he's not alone.
Relationships: Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Series: And the Sun Will Rise [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1601863
Comments: 18
Kudos: 260





	And When the Battle Is Won (We All Come Home)

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm finally back to writing after orphaning all my old works and changing my username. I've been thinking about writing a fix-it series since the day this movie came out and I finally found the time and motivation to type it out. Hope y'all like it!
> 
> Un-beta'd.
> 
> Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended; all characters belong to the original creators.

Tony knows what he has to do the moment Stephen Strange wordlessly holds up a single shaking finger. A weight settles at the bottom of Tony’s stomach. _It's funny,_ he thinks, though he doesn’t feel like laughing, _Strange had known this would happen all along_.

In a split second, Tony sprints towards Thanos just as the big, purple asshole sets the Power Stone into the Infinity Gauntlet. Brilliant rivulets of rainbow energy surge up Thanos’ arms. Tony’s feet pound harder against the ground. He knows he won’t stand a chance in a fight against Thanos—not when Thanos has all the Stones at his disposal. There is only one thing Tony can do.

Tony makes a lunge for the Gauntlet with both hands and holds on for dear life. He doesn’t have the might to pull it off of him; even on Titan with Strange restraining Thanos and Mantis keeping him docile, it had taken Tony and Peter’s combined strength a lot more time to pry the Gauntlet off than Tony had now. But Tony already knows that. Brute force was never the plan. 

Tony keeps his hands latched onto the Gauntlet and pulls hard enough for Thanos to believe it to be a genuine effort rather than a diversion. Tony suit and the Gauntlet are made of nanotech. Even as Thanos knees Tony in the stomach then aims a punch at his head that Tony is forced to intercept with his right hand, the nanotech communicates with itself, dislodging from the Gauntlet around Thanos’ meaty fist and slithering onto the left hand of Tony’s suit.

Thanos swipes his arm out wide, launching Tony backwards where he lies sprawled on the ground, but Tony has already done what he needed to. The war is over and Thanos doesn’t even know it yet. Tony somehow finds it within himself to crawl to his knees. He raises his eyes, heaving, and watches as Thanos admires the Gauntlet, smug and unaware of his loss. Tony’s suit reshapes its surface to form a path along which the Stones slide towards his right hand where six craters are already waiting for the Stones to set themselves in. Even though Tony’s suit takes the brunt of it, they burn as they cut across his body.

“I am,” Thanos says, turning towards Tony, “inevitable.” And then he snaps. 

And nothing happens.

Thanos’ mouth parts. His head swivels around to the Gauntlet. He turns his hand. Tony can’t help but feel pleased with himself when he witnesses the widening of Thanos’ eyes as realization sets in. He looks back at Tony just as Tony raises his arm.

When the Stones finally slip into their places on the back of his hand, colourful, searing electricity begins to shoot from the Stones through his arm and Tony’s head tips back and his eyes slide shut and he breathes hard to fight against a cry of pain.  _ Control it _ , he tells himself.  _ Just keep the pain in check control it a little while longer _ . The energy dulls. Tony lifts his head and blinks his eyes open. His breath is coming out in pants. Though there are no longer lightning-like bolts bursting from the Stones, there are still thin, colourful streams shooting down his hand, cutting through his suit. The streams leaves behind deep, irreparable grooves in the armor, and the Stones’ energy flow through the grooves and forge a network of paths up his arm and across his chest like water carving rivers out of valleys. 

All at once, the battlefield is quiet and time runs slow. There is fighting in the background but it seems far away. For the first time since Thanos first launched his attack on the Compound, Tony feels as though he has a moment to breathe. 

Not much is left of the Avengers Compound but dust and debris. The once-green grass is gone; bombs and gunfire and magic and the tread of thousands of fighters have reduced it to little more than smouldering patches and kicked-up dirt. The sky is so thick with ash that only the barest traces of sunlight shine through. 

The Compound had never felt like home. Tony hadn’t lived there until the Avengers had split and half his family had gone on the run. Then, five years ago, after the snap, when half his family had turned to dust, he’d settled down in a beautiful, secluded, peaceful cabin with Pepper and started a family while Steve and Nat had moved into the Compound and committed themselves to rebuilding the world. But now that the people he’d lost have come back, the Compound is gone. 

(And sure, Tony probably wouldn’t have moved Pepper and Morgan _into_ the Compound, but it would’ve been nice to visit frequently enough for the place to become something of a second home. He remembers seeing Wanda’s bedroom after first moving in. She’d had a guitar propped against the wall and photos pinned above her desk and trinkets lining her shelves. The Compound had been home to her. Tony wishes he could be there when a new Avengers facility is built; he wishes could see it become home to _all_ the Avengers. Tony is known for indulging ideas that most would call fantasies. But even Tony has to admit that this desperate desire to live to see his family reunited and happy and living in a shared home is impossible. He’ll be long gone before that happens.)

Tony wants to turn around, to find Pepper and Rhodey, his wife and his best friend who are probably flying somewhere up above, aiming beams at Thanos’ army, keeping them at bay. He wants to find Peter Parker who is like a son to him despite how little time they’ve had together and about whom he’d fondly told so many stories to Morgan.  _ Morgan _ . He wants to see her shy smile, her round cheeks, her mischievous eyes. He wants to be there the first time she meets Peter. She’s safe at home with Happy, another best friend who has staunchly by his side all these years and who he will never see again. 

Tony is leaving behind so much. Even Steve and Thor and Bruce, that Scott guy, Nebula, who he has grown to see as a second daughter over these last five years. But if this is the only way he can keep his family safe, he’s happy to pay the price. He wishes Natasha was here. He could do with one of her rare smiles right about now. 

The Stones’ energy is burning an agonizing path through the skin of Tony’s neck. Calmly, he looks Thanos in the eye. “And I,” he breathes, “am—”

Someone lands with a thud beside him. Tony’s eyes drift to the left, hand still hovering and fingers poised to snap, just as Pepper flips up her mask and sinks to her knees beside him. The smile she offers him is like salvation. She takes Tony’s hand and he feels no more pain. 

Pepper jerks as the energy courses into her through their joint hands. Tony’s eyes follow the grooves beginning to line her suit. 

“Hold hands!” someone shouts distantly. “Everyone hold hands!” A man. It sounds like that guy Quill, though since Tony’s only interaction with him was five years ago and very brief, he can’t be sure. 

The nearest Avengers begin to abandon the fight and descend upon Tony and Pepper. Thanos moves forward, only for Strange to step through a flaming portal behind him and tether him back with ropes of sparkling orange. 

“Mr. Stark!” Peter shouts, swinging to the ground. He grins, dropping to the ground and seizing Tony’s right arm. Peter lets out a pained grunt as the Stones’ power flows into him and begins cutting through his suit but his grip is strong and his smile returns, soft and steady. 

Rhodey touches down next and kneels in front of him, placing his armoured palm on Tony’s arc reactor. Then it’s Steve and Thor at his shoulders and Nebula slipping her hand into Pepper’s. T’challa’s little sister takes Peter’s elbow and then T’challa himself is gripping his sister’s wrist with determined strength. 

One by one, the others join in, crowding around Tony, touching his head, his back, holding onto each other when there was no part of Tony they could reach. Other sorcerers (Tony really cannot bring himself to say  _ Masters of the Mystic Arts _ ) gather around Thanos, holding him back. Other Avengers are fighting Thanos’ army back. Wanda floats gracefully to the ground between Tony and Thanos in a haze of red. Her eyes are blazing with power but she beams at Tony as she forms a ring of energy around them, shielding them from the intervention of Thanos’ soldiers. 

Sharing the Stones’ burden between them has made the pain all but nonexistent. Tony’s mind has begun to clear. Over Rhodey’s shoulder, he gazes evenly back at Thanos, who has given up his fruitless struggle against Strange and his friends in favour of bitter resignation. 

For once, Tony decides to forgo a killer one-liner. 

Tony squeezes Pepper’s hand, and then he snaps. 

The world goes white. 

* * *

Tony wakes kneeling in a thin layer of water. His armour is gone. There is nobody holding his hands. The sky is a burnt, blood orange, and the faraway horizon glows gold, illuminating the clouds of fog. In the near distance, there is a silhouette. 

Tony feels no fear as he approaches the figure, only peace and calm. He is safe here. The person, who Tony can now see is a woman, twists around, her braid whipping around. Tony gasps when he sees her face. 

Natasha smiles softly at him and approaches him with her arms open. He collapses into her. She feels real and warm in his arms. He can feel her shoulder pressing into his forehead. “What happened?” she murmurs by his ear. 

“We did it,” Tony replies. “We got the Stones and then Bruce snapped everyone back.”

“And he’s okay?”

“He’s okay,” Tony confirms. He pulls back but neither of them relinquish their hold on the other. “Everyone’s okay. Except you.”

“I’m fine,” Nat says. “I’m good.” 

Tony shakes his head. “I can’t accept that. It’s not fair.” 

Nat’s smile turns bitter. “Life isn’t fair, Tony. You of all people should know.”

“We’ll bring you home Nat,” Tony promises. Then he grins. “I saw Steve cry this single manly tear today. It broke my damn heart.”

Natasha’s laughter is bright and sweet. “He needs to get a life,” she says. 

Tony shakes his head again. “Not ‘til we bring you home.” 

Natasha sighs, then presses a gentle skin to his weathered cheek. Before Tony can open his mouth to tease her, she’s gone and so is he. 

* * *

The first thing Tony notices is the pain. His arm throbs like it’s been burnt. He opens his eyes, blinking as he looks at his hand. His suit is certainly damaged beyond repair. His arm hair has been singed clean off and his skin is an angry pink, but he is otherwise unscatched. A quick survey of those around him confirm that the others are experiencing similar symptoms, though theirs are even less severe than Tony’s. 

Thanos and his army have turned to dust. It blows away gently, swirling in the breeze. A calm settles over the battletorn remains of the Compound. Tony looks at Peter, then Rhodey, then Pepper, whose fingers are still slotted between his. She smiles at him with tears shimmering in her blue eyes. Tony breathes out a contented sigh.

He can rest now. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are much appreciated!
> 
> Come say hi to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/halcyonparker)!


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